LGBT News Opposition Politician and Friends Attacked for 'Looking Gay'

A birthday party was attacked at a central Moscow bar frequented by expats over the weekend because the partygoers "looked gay," opposition politician and journalist Vera Kichanova said Monday.

Kichanova, who attended the party, said the brawl started at the Kamchatka bar at 7 Kuznetsky Most when a woman shouted a gay slur at one of her friends and started hitting him.

"Another woman came over and then three other men joined in. At that point there were five of them beating my friend, who was lying on the floor with his hands covering his head," Kichanova said by phone.

Kichanova, 22, who writes for the website Slon and was elected Russia's youngest and first libertarian lawmaker for a Moscow neighborhood in March 2012, tried to break up the fight. But she was punched multiple times in the stomach before she and her husband were removed by bar security guards, who then allowed the fight to continue, she said.
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"It was clear the security guards were on the side of the aggressors," she said.

Read more: Man Beaten in Bar for 'Looking Gay' | News | The Moscow Times
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